The European Union celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Single Market in 2012. The Commission highlights that the job is not finished even if the Single Market has helped create millions of jobs and make Europe increasingly competitive. Therefore, it has presented an update of the efforts aimed a delivering growth, social progress and competitiveness.

The European Commission has presented an update of the Single Market Act adopted in April 2011. The Commission also presented its first report on governance which sets out what is being done and what still needs to be done to make the Single Market fully operational. In addition, the package adopted includes the publication of a new strategy for Solvit, which puts forward ten concrete proposals to make SOLVIT work even better.

Michel Barnier, the Internal Market and Services Commissioner stressed that the new package adopted need to be adopted by the European Parliament and the Council in order to make possible the last year' adopted measures can boost growth, jobs and confidence in the Single Market. He also added that the EU need to make sure the Single Market works better on the ground with a special focus on governance and enforcement. On the other hand, 2012 is the 20th anniversary of the single market. The Commission plans to celebrate this anniversary with a Single Market Week across Europe. The week will be organised in October 2012 and include the second annual Single Market Forum.

Therefore, the Single Market depends not only on solid regulation but also on good governance. For this purpose, various practical tools and networks have been created. The Commission proposes on its 2011 "governance check-up", the first of its kind, an integrated view of their results and highlights the coherence between the various tools as parts of a “Single market governance cycle”.